NPO 3 is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channels operated by the Dutch public-broadcasting organization NPO in the Netherlands and carries programmes provided by member-based non-profit broadcasting associations. It is oriented towards children, youth and innovative television.
History
Initially the third Dutch public television channel would be a joint venture with the Flemish public broadcaster VRT, which would specialize in a cooperative Netherlands/Flanders programming. With the pretended cooperation, BRT would either continue or terminate its second channel by operating it more lucratively. This plan failed but later resulted in a new television channel targeting Dutch and Flemish people living abroad. Two Dutch broadcasters, NPO and RNW, launched BVN as Zomer TV in 1996, and all of its programming originally came from the Netherlands, this however changed, once the VRT began contributing both financially and delivering programmes, changing the channel from specializing in programming from the Netherlands to specializing in Dutch programming from the Netherlands and Flanders. NPO 3 was established as 'Nederland 3' on 4 April 1988, however the channel was used for experimental purposes for the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary earlier on in the year. Nederland 3 became the home channel of the broadcasters VPRO, VARA, RVU, and NPS, all of which share a progressive outlook. The initial emphasis was news, culture and sports. In September 2000, AVRO, BNN, EO, KRO and TROS later joined this channel in producing more content for its programming output. The channel focused on news, debate, culture and innovative television. Before the evening the channel's programming, under the label of Z@ppelin, was aimed at children. In September 2006, the programming of NPO's television channels changed slightly. Nederland 3 still focuses on children during the daytime. In the evenings it aims to reach an open-minded audience with innovative, educational television and occasionally sports. All Dutch public broadcasting organizations have air-time on Nederland 1, Nederland 2 and Nederland 3; youth-oriented broadcaster BNN broadcast only on Nederland 3. On 15 September 2007 the NPO channels Nederland 1, Nederland 2 and Nederland 3 switched completely to anamorphic widescreen, before that time some of the programming was already broadcast in widescreen. On 4 July 2009 all three channels began simulcasting in 1080ihigh-definition. Before the launch of the permanent HD service, a test version of the Nederland 1 HD channel was made available from 2 June 2008 until 24 August 2008 in order to broadcast Euro 2008, the 2008 Tour de France, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in HD. On 12 March 2013, the NPO announced that Nederland 1, 2 and 3 will be renamed as NPO 1, 2 and 3. The reason for this change is to make the channels and its programmes more recognizable. The rebranding completed on 19 August 2014.
